Every time I play SF4 I just can’t seem to relax. I’m so worried about getting my combos out and making sure I can get into a certain attack so that I can combo off of it and I just wind up not even thinking about what the other opponent is doing and I leave myself open and I lose every time. (The run on sentence was to show how ridiculous it gets.)

But I made a development when I was playing SSF2HDR. I was playing as Ken and I was fighting the computer (Blanka). I was doing terribly. I would leave myself open for easy attacks and I was just getting rocked. I kept worrying about my attacks and combos (like I said in the beginning), and the computer would just continue to destroy me despite how much I attempted my j.MK -> HP xx HP Shoryuken combo.

But after one match I just went into the round not even worrying about what I should do. I just simply played. And I won! Easily. I kept doing this until I got through round after round like I was messing around in training mode. What a development, relaxing my mind makes be a better player!

Another interesting thing that happened because of this, is that the game became fun again. When I would over-think the game and worry, it became this challenge that I could never beat. But when I just relaxed it became a fun game with buttons to press and attacks to counter the enemy on the screen.

I’m sure this is something any player worth his salt has realized, and I always knew that a relaxed gamer is a better gamer. But up until this point, I was never able to relax during a fight. So for those of you newbs like me, just try to stop thinking for a little bit. Just have fun. And if you’re good enough, you’ll start winning too!

tl;dr Relax your mind and body and the game becomes fun and easy to play.

I just wanted to tell this anecdote in hopes that it will help other newbs like myself become better fighters.

P.S. I understand that a computer match is completely different than a player match. And I’m also sure that you have to apply some different thinking for a more complex game like SF4 or SF:3S.

People have different methods of getting their mind in the right state for fighters. I know personally I’ve got two different high performing modes - the “genuinely having fun” mode and the “enraged locked-on tunnel vision” mode. The former is much more pleasant, as I start to see my game flow and react better when things are just going my way - I’m having fun, playing a great game, and doing well - things just all fall into place. The latter is a bit harder on my brain but I see a lot higher performance come of it - after a loss streak or an exceptionally irksome match / circumstance, my mind just goes, for lack of a better term, blank. I become so intensely focused on the game and doing everything in my power to defeat my next enemy or learn whatever it is I’m trying to learn that it all simply clicks together and my overall performance skyrockets.

I think both are viable and both have their place - I just need to learn how to incur the benefits and superiority of my “enraged” mode without actually having to become… well, enraged.

Definitely Gandara, I know I should have a mode where I can just focus on in the game, but at this point my execution and gameplay in general isn’t up to snuff to be able to do that without floundering about. It’s something I’m working at, but after playing a few hours of ranked matches where I even one a few (for me that’s woa) I can’t believe how well it’s worked for me.

I practice until the cows come home but, once a match starts I forget everything and resort to mashing buttons(not really but, it seems like it). I get all sweaty and my heart beat goes to a million. It just takes time. After so many matches I’ve started to get more comfortable with the game and I’m starting to do combos on instinct from all of my training.

Rage mode has never really worked for me in fighters on more than a rare occasion, which is kind of strange. It’s pretty effective when it comes to racing games, fairly effective for FPS, and even works for school exams and work.

A lot of the losing and thus frustration I run into is because I try to use my practice mindset from racing games where I try stuff for the sake of finding out if it works instead of my race mindset of being consistent by only using what I know unless I absolutely have to take a risk. I’m starting to wonder if the latter isn’t actually better for learning in this game, at least at this stage. The dicking around phase is more of a metagame thing than a personal skill one. Obviously you need enough of a grasp on a character to actually use your buttons, but avoiding situations you don’t know you can win or execute is probably better for the general skillset than getting annihilated over and over by trying to find something that works in that situation.

When I watch Marn play SFIV it’s the epitomy of just not giving a fuck and being completely comfortable. This is the same guy of course who will Ultra on reaction the first c.LK Ryder’s Abel tried in a match vs. him.

It’s an interesting dynamic of having a calm, relaxed mood where you’re not really thinking too hard about the game but at the same time having a sharp mind ready to take advantage of punishes and combo opportunities. With me I’m just sort of at the point where I’m going to take advantage of a situation with a knockdown or a simple punish as opposed to going into a huge combo string that I know I will screw up after the second c.LP. But like Kelter Skelter said, it’s starting to become more instinctive to me. A crossup j.LK -> cr.LK -> cr.LP-> cr.HP -> EX Hurricane Kick is becoming more natural to me in the heat of battle.

And AOS-, the thing that really made me focus on my fundamentals was playing SSF2THDR. That game is very dependent on just rushing down your opponent with normals and crossups and punishing mistakes as opposed to really long combos that juggle and other more complex mechanics.

I find most of my anxiety comes from worrying right when I’m about to punish something… my brain says: “Hey! HEEY!! Here’s your opening!! quick!! take it!! omg!! KILL HEEEEEEM!!!” So my fingers bumble over themselves trying to obey. After practicing particular combos a bunch I find that sometimes now it’s more like “Hey, there’s an opening there if you wanna take it…not saying you have to…but it’s…y’know…there…if you wanna…” so the fingers move slower and the combo comes out correctly.

When I watch Marn play SFIV it’s the epitomy of just not giving a fuck and being completely comfortable. This is the same guy of course who will Ultra on reaction the first c.LK Ryder’s Abel tried in a match vs. him.